Maholm was first linked to the Cubs a month ago and has been a popular name to speculate about as teams try to fill out their rotations with low-cost veterans.

He never developed as hoped for the Pirates, who cut Maholm loose rather than exercise his $9.75 million option, but he’s still just 29 years old and has generally been a solid mid-rotation starter despite a sub par strikeout rate.

Maholm makes up for the lack of missed bats by inducing lots of ground balls, allowing just 18 homers per 200 innings during his career. Of course, Maholm hasn’t actually thrown 200 innings since 2008 and missed the end of last season with shoulder problems, but for a modest one-year deal he’d be a worthwhile pickup.

Rotation? That Cubs “rotation” is going to spin like a dreydel with a Teflon™ tip. Like the revolving door to Donald Trump’s office. Like a Tasmanian devil with the Bolshoi. We need to start a contest to guess how many starters the Cubs are going to chew through this coming season.

Funny to see Cubs fans talking trash, I’m sure you enjoy rehashing the 1908 season. Wait, you can’t, since that was before your grandparents time. BTW, Bucs went 8-8 versus the Cubbies last year, and dominated Chicago head to head in 2010.